Methods and systems for detecting, verifying, preventing and correcting or resolving unauthorized use of electronic media content

ABSTRACT

A method of detecting, verifying, preventing and correcting or resolving unauthorized use of electronic media content. In one embodiment, the method comprises providing an electronic system that allows auditors to register to audit the use of electronic media content, providing the auditors with information through the electronic system regarding a unique identifier that identifies one or more items of electronic media content, owners of electronic media content or other intellectual property or users who have subscribed to the use of electronic media content, obtaining information from auditors through the electronic system regarding unauthorized use of the electronic media content and verifying that the information received from auditors is complete.

CLAIM OF BENEFIT TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. PatentApplication 13/831,006, filed Mar. 14, 2013, now published as U.S.Patent Publication 2014/0283123, both of which are incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present invention generally relates to method for detecting,verifying, preventing and correcting or resolving unauthorized use ofelectronic media content. More particularly, the present inventiondetects unauthorized use of electronic media content by allowing anyregistered user to collect and submit evidence of the unauthorized use,and correct misuse which prevents further unauthorized use of electronicmedia content and acts as a deterrent for those contemplatingunauthorized use.

BACKGROUND

Unauthorized use of electronic media content, which includes signaltheft or piracy, usually occurs when a business or individual uses theelectronic media content without subscribing to the electronic mediacontent provider, such as using an unauthorized receiver or a computerto access and steal the electronic media content. Unauthorized use ofmedia or violation of terms of use is often accomplished when acustomer, who at one time subscribed to a specific type of the service,uses the electronic media content for another unauthorized user. Othersalter their receiver to continue to receive unauthorized electronicmedia content even after ending their subscription or use the electronicmedia content without lawful subscription or permit.

Using an electronic media content that exceeds viewers' licensing termsis also a prevalent form of unauthorized use of electronic mediacontent. For instance, some businesses subscribe to electronic mediacontent under personal or residential use but use the electronic mediacontent commercially. Those businesses, entities or individuals unjustlybenefit from the unauthorized use because they access, view, exhibitand/or transmit the media content to others without obtainingauthorization from the content owner or paying the required licensingfees to the content provider. There are also individuals or businesseswho applied to the use of an electronic media content for one particularlicense, location or device but actually use the electronic mediacontent in multiple locations or devices without subscribing for thatactual usage or license. This can happen when a subscriber uses amulti-receiver to receive the electronic media content at multiplelocations; when the subscriber uses media mirroring device (i.e.,Slingbox® or other place shifting devices or technology) to mirror theelectronic media content and use the electronic media content atunauthorized location; or when the subscriber shares his mediasubscription account and/or password with others without authorization.

Electronic media content providers often cannot efficiently identify endusers who illegally use their electronic media content because theirsystem is incapable of detecting the unauthorized use (i.e., one waybroadcasting system such as satellite TV, cable tv, terrestrial radiotelephone, fiber optic) or because they do not have enough resources tohire sufficient auditors to investigate the unauthorized use. Even iftheir systems/methods have such functionality, the systems/methods stillcannot differentiate whether the electronic media content is being usedresidentially or commercially. It is also expensive to hire privateinvestigators, federal marshal, or auditors, often at hourly rate, andmay take a long time for them to find out the individuals or businessesthat exist throughout the country that are using electronic mediacontent without authorization or to collect evidences of theunauthorized use. Other methods include using expensive and ofteninaccurate internet, GPS, or GIS predictive models or technology thatdoes not positively identify unauthorized misuse but only tries topredict an increased possibility of unauthorized use of electronic mediacontent for the content providers. Moreover, content providers are oftenconcerned with the negative stigma, press, potential backlash andpossibly legal consequences from trying to enforce their legal rightsand prevent members of the public from unauthorized use of theirelectronic media content.

Accordingly, there exists a need for improved method which not onlyallows electronic media content providers and owners to detect, verifyand correct unauthorized use of their electronic media content moreefficiently, but also allows them to lawfully collect evidence of theunauthorized use, thereby protecting their interests and business modeland preventing unauthorized use of electronic media content.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention discloses a method for detecting, verifying,preventing and correcting or resolving unauthorized use of electronicmedia content which allows electronic media content providers or owners,and related parties and intermediaries to efficiently discover whether auser is licensed to use electronic media content or whether the user isusing the electronic media content consistently with its licensingterms. The method further allows the electronic media content providersto collect evidence of the unauthorized use more expediently.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a method of detecting,verifying, preventing and correcting or resolving unauthorized use ofelectronic media content is provided. The method comprises (1) providingan electronic system that allows one or more auditors to register toaudit the use of electronic media content; (2) providing the one or moreauditors with information through the electronic system regarding aunique identifier that identifies one or more items of electronic mediacontent, one or more owners of electronic media content or one or moreusers who have subscribed to use one or more items of electronic mediacontent; (3) obtaining information from the one or more auditors throughthe electronic system regarding unauthorized use of one or more items ofelectronic media content and (4) verifying that the information receivedfrom the one or more auditors through the electronic system regardingthe unauthorized use of one or more items of electronic media iscomplete.

In one aspect of at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic system used can be a website, an internet application, acomputer software application, a mobile software application or othersimilar technology.

In another aspect of at least one embodiment of the present disclosure,the auditor can be any individual or business entity that has access tothe electronic system including, but not limited to, mobile users whohave installed the mobile application for the electronic system or userswho have registered with the electronic system. The registration of theauditor may require the auditor to provide evidence that he or she issuitable to be an auditor. The electronic system can be any means oftransmitting electronic information, including but not limited to, theinternet, mobile/telephonic devices, satellite and radio communication.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the electronic system obtains information regarding thelocation of one or more auditors based on IP address or GPS location ofthem and notifying the auditors within a specific geographic location ofspecial watch events. For instance, if there is a special sporting event(i.e., Super Bowl®) and the event is being broadcasted on TV only atcertain region, the electronic system will alert auditors in proximityto that region to pay attention to individual or business playing thespecial event on TV. In another example, and not by way of limitation,the system and method of the present invention would notify the auditorof local media contents (e.g., a specific sporting event, geographicallyrestricted content, content that is not supposed to be viewed oraccessed at a later or earlier time, or content that is sent to aparticular person or business) that should or should not be displayed atthat particular location in order to assist the auditor with determiningwhether a media content is being used without authorization.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the electronic system provides auditors with a list ofauthorized users of the media content within the auditors' area. In yetanother aspect of at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, thelist is incorporated into a mobile application or software that theauditor can use to help determine unauthorized use of electronic mediacontent.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, there can be numerous ways where auditors can verify whetheran individual or business has the authorization to use the electronicmedia content. In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the electronic system provides auditors withgeographic locations or ranges of the electronic media content. In yetanother aspect of at least one embodiment of the present disclosure,when the auditors see that an electronic media content is being usedoutside of its geographic locations or ranges, the auditors canimmediately tell that the use of the electronic media content is likelyunauthorized. In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the auditors can then confirm their findings withthe electronic system.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the auditors identifies the source of electronic mediacontent through unique identifier such as digital signature, digitalfingerprint, watermark, pixilation, banner or any other identifyingindicia embedded in the electronic media content. In yet another aspectof at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, once the source ofan electronic media content is identified, the auditors can access theelectronic system to verify whether the person or business using theelectronic media content has the authorization or correct license to doso.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, if the auditors determine that an unauthorized use ofelectronic media content has occurred, the auditors can submit theevidence of the unauthorized use in various forms and means to theelectronic system. For instance, in one aspect of at least oneembodiment of the present invention, the auditors can take photos orvideos of the unauthorized use and upload them to the electronic systemthrough its website, web application, mobile application, or othersimilar technology. In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the electronic system also allows the auditorsto provide detail information regarding the unauthorized use, such asidentity of individual or business using the electronic media content,or specific location and time of the unauthorized use. In yet anotheraspect of at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, if auditorsdo not provide this information, the electronic system may still be ableto determine them based on the IP address or GPS location of theauditors and the time auditors accessed the electronic system or tookthe photos or videos.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, if graphical evidence is not available, the auditors cansimply provide textual or voice description of the unauthorized use tothe electronic system. In yet another aspect of at least one embodimentof the present disclosure, the electronic system may provide specialforms for auditors to fill out such as forms asking auditors to providespecific date, time, location and description of the unauthorized use ofelectronic media content.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, when the electronic system receives the evidence fromauditors, the electronic system can automatically compile the evidenceinto a legal document (i.e., affidavits or declaration of auditors). Inyet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the present disclosure,the auditors can sign the generated legal document electronically if thejurisdiction allows digital signature, or the auditors can submitnotarized copy of the legal document when required. In yet anotheraspect of at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic media content providers can then use the legal documentagainst unauthorized electronic media content users. In yet anotheraspect of at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, if theidentity or contact information of the unauthorized electronic mediacontent users is known, the electronic system may also send message(i.e., text message, email, mail, etc.) to the unauthorized electronicmedia content users warning them of the unauthorized use and requestingthem to pay the required licensing fee and/or penalty to avoid legalactions. In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, upon discovery of unauthorized use of a media content, awarning message is delivered or streamed with the media content to theindividual using the media content requiring the individual to eithercease the use of content and/or pay the necessary fees.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentinvention, the method further includes providing an incentive, paymentor award to the auditor for correctly identifying and documentingunauthorized use of electronic media content.

In another aspect of at least one embodiment of the present disclosure,the electronic system tracks progress of the audits performed by theauditors and periodically reminds the auditors to complete tasksrequired by the auditing process.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentinvention, the method further includes the method described hereinexcept that the user does not need to register or provide anyidentifying information.

Since the method of the present invention allows anyone in the public tobe a potential auditor and compensates the auditor when an evidence ofunauthorized use of electronic media content is properly received, thepresent invention greatly increases the efficiency and incentive ofdetecting and reporting unauthorized use of electronic media content.Thus, individual or business will also less likely to use electronicmedia content without authorization because of the high probability ofgetting detected. In addition, when the individual or business seesdetail evidence of their wrongdoing, it will prompt them to pay therequired licensing fees or to settle the case with the electronic mediacontent providers. Thus, any unauthorized use of media content can beeasily corrected and resolved.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdrawings, description and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a process flow diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary embodiment of the present invention showing howthe electronic system provides information to an auditor.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary embodiment of the present invention showing howthe auditor can identify the source of a media content.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary embodiment of the present providing an incentive,payment or award to the auditor for correctly identifying unauthorizeduse of electronic media content.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary embodiment of the present invention showing howthe list can be incorporated into web map.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of theunique identifier of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of howthe present invention can prevent unauthorized use of media content.

FIG. 8 is a process flow diagram showing how the notification system canassign auditor based on his or her location.

FIG. 9 is a process flow diagram showing how the notification systemtracks and dispatches auditors based on their locations.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary embodiment of the present invention showing howthe quality control team involves in auditing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but ismade merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles ofthe invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by thefollowing claims. Various inventive features are described below thatcan each be used independently of one another or in combination withother features.

Broadly, embodiments of the present invention generally provide a methodof detecting, verifying, preventing and correcting or resolvingunauthorized use of electronic media content by providing an electronicsystem that allows one or more auditors to register to audit the use ofelectronic media content, providing the one or more auditors withinformation through the electronic system regarding a unique identifierthat identifies one or more items of electronic media content, one ormore owners of electronic media content or one or more users who havesubscribed to use one or more items of electronic media content,obtaining information from the one or more auditors through theelectronic system regarding unauthorized use of one or more items ofelectronic media content and verifying that the information receivedfrom the one or more auditors through the electronic system regardingthe unauthorized use of one or more items of electronic media iscomplete. For the purposes of this disclosure, an auditor is anyindividual or entity that detects, verifies, prevents, corrects and/orresolves the unauthorized use of electronic media content. For purposesof the present disclosure, media content shall include content, in anyform and type, that is or can be protected through law or otherwise.Examples of electronic media content include but are not limited topasswords, key codes, licenses shares, software, video, music,membership accounts, writings, and any other literary, musical, orartistic work presently available or created in the future that can bestored, access, download or transmit through any electronic device.

Referring to FIG. 1, a process flow diagram showing an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. In one aspect of at least oneembodiment of the present invention, the method for detecting,verifying, preventing and correcting or resolving unauthorized use ofelectronic media content first collects subscriber information fromelectronic media content providers 101. In one aspect of at least oneembodiment of the present invention, an electronic system is provided102 that allows one or more auditors to register to audit the use ofelectronic media content 103. The auditors can be anyone in the publicwhich also include, but not limited to, company employee, third party orindependent contractor. The electronic system can be a website, aninternet application, a computer software application, a mobile softwareapplication, other similar technology or any combination of them, whereall of them can provide functions similar to each other. The electronicsystem allows any individual or business to register with the system andbecome an auditor. There are various ways that an individual canregister with the electronic system. For instance, and not by way oflimitation, the individual can be automatically registered when theindividual installed the application or software provided by theelectronic system (i.e., computer software, mobile device application,etc.) or the individual can register with the electronic system throughthe website provided by the electronic system. The registration mayrequire the auditor to provide evidence that he or she is suitable to bean auditor to prevent people with criminal history or dishonest conductfrom becoming auditors. In one aspect of at least one embodiment of thepresent invention, the registration requirement can be optional whereeveryone can have access to the electronic system.

The electronic system then provides the auditor with information throughthe electronic system regarding a unique identifier that identifies oneor more items of electronic media content, one or more owners ofelectronic media content or one or more users who have subscribed to useone or more items of electronic media content 104. For instance, theinformation can include which individual or business has subscribed tothe electronic media content providers' services and the type of license(i.e., residential or commercial) for each subscriber. Such informationcan be stored on or accessed through the electronic system. If theelectronic media content providers cannot provide subscriber'sinformation due to confidentiality agreement with the subscriber, theelectronic system can also serve as a gateway between electronic mediacontent providers and auditors.

Once an individual becomes an auditor of the electronic system, theelectronic system will interact with the auditor in various ways.Referring to FIG. 2, in one aspect of at least one embodiment of thepresent invention, the electronic system 201 alerts or notifies anauditor to inspect certain individual or business 204 based on theauditor's 203 location. For example, and not by way of limitation, ifthere is a special sporting event (i.e., Super Bowl(D) and the event isbeing broadcast on TV only at certain region, the electronic system 201will alert auditors 203 in proximity to that region to pay attention toindividual or business 204 playing the special event on TV. The alert ornotification can be a mobile text message, email, voice mail, ornotification generated by mobile application. The electronic system iscapable of locating the auditor's 203 geographical location through theIP address if the auditor is accessing the webpage of the electronicsystem, or through GPS if the auditor 203 is using mobile devise 202that has GPS function, or through any similar technology. In anotheraspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention, theelectronic system 201 also allows the auditors 203 to query and verifywhether an individual or business 204 has the authorization to use anelectronic media content without first receiving notification from theelectronic system 201. For instance, if an auditor sees an individual orbusiness 204 is using an electronic media content and the auditor isable to identify the identity of the individual or business 204, theauditor can provide the identity to the electronic system 201 and theelectronic system 201 will verify whether the individual or business 204has the authorization to use the electronic media content 105. FIG. 8 isa process flow diagram showing how the electronic system can interactwith the auditor based on the auditor's location. In another aspect ofat least one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic systemwill assign the auditor to audit the use of electronic media on aspecific region based on the auditor's location. The electronic systemhas the option of not to assign the auditor to an area if certain numberof other auditors has already been assigned to that area.

There can be numerous ways where auditors can verify whether anindividual or business has the authorization to use the electronic mediacontent. In one aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentinvention, the electronic system provides auditors with geographiclocations or ranges of electronic media content. When the auditors seethat the electronic media content is being used outside of itsgeographic locations or ranges, the auditors can immediately tell thatthe use of the electronic media content is likely unauthorized. Theauditors can then confirm their findings with the electronic system. Inanother aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention, theelectronic system provides auditors with a list showing which individualor business has the authorization to use the electronic media contentwithin the auditors' area. If an individual or business is using theelectronic media content but is not on the legal list, the auditors willimmediately know that the use of electronic media content isunauthorized. The legal list can also be combined or tied with mapapplications (i.e., Google® map, Apple® map, etc.) so that auditors cansee the exact locations of subscribers in the legal list on the map. Forinstance, as illustrate in FIG. 5, the list is incorporated into Google®map where different colors of dots can be used to represent whichindividual or business has subscribed to the electronic media contentprovider, the type of licensing, or whether a previous subscriber'slicense has expired.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentinvention as shown in FIG. 3, the auditors can identify the source of anelectronic media content through unique identifier that identifies oneor more items of electronic media content, one or more owners ofelectronic media content or one or more users who have subscribed to useone or more items of electronic media such as watermark 301 on a TVprograms 302. The unique identifier also includes, but is not limitedto, watermarks or other distortions to the media content, digitalsignature, digital fingerprint, pixilation, banner or audio signal,image recognition or biometrics or anything else is commonly used in theart or can be embedded or added to in the electronic media content. Theunique identifier may also be known only to the auditors and be updatedperiodically so that the chance of subscribers discovering or temperingwith the unique identifier is greatly reduced. Once the source of anelectronic media content is identified, the auditors can access theelectronic system to verify whether the individual or business using theelectronic media content has the authorization or correct license to doso. FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram showing how an auditor can use theunique identifier to detect unauthorized use of electronic mediacontent.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentinvention, the auditor is provided with special equipment associatingwith the electronic system that is capable of identifying one or moreitems of electronic media content, one or more owners of electronicmedia content or one or more users who have subscribed to use one ormore items of electronic media content. The equipment can readinformation that is being transmitted from any device receiving,transmitting or displaying the electronic media content. For instance,an electronic media content provider may embed a transmittertransmitting licensing and/or subscriber information in their TV box,satellite dish, or any device it provides to its customer for viewing orreceiving its media content. The auditor can then retrieve thoseinformation through the special equipment and determine whether there isunauthorized use. For example, if the information reveals that thesubscriber did not subscribe the electronic media content at thatlocation or the license has already expired, or reveals that theelectronic media content should be used residentially but the user isusing it commercially, the auditor will immediately know that the use ofthe electronic media content is unauthorized.

In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of the presentinvention as shown in FIG. 9, auditors are being provided with software,application or device that will perform auto audit trail tracking andfield resource immediate response. The electronic system and/or thesoftware, application or device can track the location of auditors anddispatch auditors based on their locations or based on leads generatedby the electronic system which can be realized by technology likeServing Area Interface (SAI), Sequence Retrieval System (SRS) or anyother similar technology. As shown in FIG. 10, the electronic system mayalso provide auditors with trails they should take, and have auditorsperform live video recording along the trails. The live video recordingwill be streamed to the electronic system. Then a quality control teamis provided at different location to monitor the process of auditing andprovide assistance to the auditors if necessary. In yet another aspectof at least one embodiment of the present invention, the quality controlteam can also perform live audit via the streamed video recording. Bydoing this, auditors or users of the software, application or devicewill not necessarily need to have the knowledge of how to audit a mediacontent as such function will be performed by the quality control teaminstead.

Once the auditors determine that an unauthorized use of electronic mediacontent occurs, the auditors can gather evidence 106 and submit theevidence of the unauthorized use 107 in various forms and means to theelectronic system. For instance, as shown in FIG. 4, the auditors 401can take photos or videos of the unauthorized use and upload them to theelectronic system 403 through its website, web application, mobileapplication, or other similar technology. If the auditors are usingmobile devices (i.e., smart phone, PDA, tablet, camera, optical deviceor tablet computer etc.) 402, the auditors 401 may use the mobileapplication provided by the electronic system 403 to perform thephoto/video taking and uploading tasks.

The electronic system also allows the auditors to provide detailinformation regarding the unauthorized use, such as identity ofindividual or business using the electronic media content, or specificlocation and time of the unauthorized use. If auditors do not providethese information, the electronic system may still be able to determinethe time and location of the unauthorized use based on IP address or GPSlocation of the auditor, the time auditor accessed or providedinformation regarding unauthorized use of the electronic media contentthrough the mobile application, or the time picture or video evidencewas taken by the auditor. If graphical evidence is not available, theauditors may simply provide textual or voice description of theunauthorized use to the electronic system. The electronic system mayprovide special forms for auditors to fill out such as forms askingauditors to provide specific date, time, location and description of theunauthorized use of electronic media content.

After the electronic system 403 receives the evidence from auditors 401as shown in FIG. 4, the electronic system may compile the evidence intoa legal document 404 (i.e., affidavits or declaration of auditors) 108.The auditors can sign the generated legal document 404 electronically ifthe jurisdiction allows digital signature, or the auditors can submitnotarized copy of the legal document when required. The electronic mediacontent providers can then use the legal document against individual orbusiness for unauthorized use of their electronic media content. Asshown in FIG. 7, if the identity or contact information of theindividual or business is known, the electronic system may also sendmessage (i.e., text message, email, post mail, etc.) to the individualor business warning them of the unauthorized use and requesting them topay the required licensing fee and/or penalty to avoid legal actions.

In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, upondetection/confirmation of the unauthorized use of a media content by anindividual or business, the electronic system will alert the mediacontent owner/provider of the unauthorized use and provide the contentowner/provider with information relating to the unauthorized use (e.g.,live evidence of unauthorized use of the media content or account,license, subscription information about the media content). The contentowner/provider can then immediately decide whether to block or suspendthe individual or business from further access to the media content,thereby immediately correct or resolve any unauthorized or misuse of themedia content. In yet another aspect of at least one embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the media content owner/provider can optionallydeliver a warning message that is embedded or streamed with the mediacontent to the individual or business and requesting the individual orbusiness to cease the unauthorized use and/or pay the necessary fees.Since the warning message will be displayed on the media content (e.g.,a banner or message box displaying on the media content screen showingthat the use of the media content is unauthorized), it can effectivelydeter users, especially commercial users, from using the media contentwithout authorization.

The present disclosure further provides an incentive, payment or awardto the auditor for correctly identifying unauthorized use of electronicmedia content. For instance, once the electronic system 403 confirmsthat the evidence submitted by the auditors 401 is proper and authentic,the electronic system awards the auditor with money 405, gift or storecredit.

The electronic system will also keep track of tasks performed byauditors and generate lead assignments. For instance, if the electronicsystem receives a high number of unauthorized use reports from auditorsregarding particular individual or business, the electronic system willput the individual or business on a priority list so that electronicmedia content providers can choose who to prosecute first based on thepriority list. The electronic system will also track progress of theaudits performed by the auditor and periodically reminds the auditor tocomplete one or more tasks required by the auditing process. Forinstance, the electronic system will verify that the informationreceived from the auditor regarding the unauthorized use of electronicmedia content is complete. If an auditor forgot to upload evidence orsome information is missing, the electronic system will notify theauditor of the missing information.

In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the system andmethod can also be used to detect, verify, prevent and correctunauthorized use of non-electronic media contents. Non-electronic mediacontents include, but are not limited to, trademark, copyright works,software, grey market goods, pharmaceutical drugs and any other consumerproduct. The electronic system can provide one or more auditors withinformation regarding a unique identifier that identifies one or moreitems of non-electronic media content, one or more owners ofnon-electronic media content or one or more users who have subscribed touse one or more items of non-electronic media content. The auditor canthen determine whether a non-electronic media content is being used withauthorization based on the unique identifier. For instance, a uniqueidentifier can be embedded or marked on a consumer product where theunique identifier identifies information such as manufacture,destination of sale or authorized vendor of the consumer product. Suchinformation can also be embedded in and disclosed by the bar code of theproduct if there is one. If the auditor finds that an individual orbusiness is distributing the commercial product without authorization,the auditor can take and submit evidence of the unauthorized use or saleto the electronic system in exchange for reward. Since the owner orauthorized distributor of the commercial product can use the evidenceagainst the individual or business for the unauthorized use ordistribution, the present disclosure effectively protects and preventsthe owner or authorized distributor from unfair competition or loss ofrevenue resulting from unauthorized/unlawful trading of grey marketgoods.

Among other things, the present invention provides various benefits andadvantages to the electronic media content providers. One benefit of thesystems and method of the present disclosure is that it prevents unfaircompetition. For instance, business entities or individuals who use theelectronic media content without authorization can operate theirbusiness at lower expense compared to their competitors who lawfullysubscribed to the use of the electronic media content. By avoidingpaying the required licensing fee, those business entities orindividuals may then reduce the cost of their product or service by theamount they saved from the unauthorized use, thereby creating unfaircompetition to their competitors. Another benefit of the presentinvention is to prevent or protect late subscribers of the media contentfrom being mistaken for the unauthorized use by the auditors because theelectronic system will update the information or database of mediacontent subscribers instantly, thereby resolving latency. The method ofthe present invention deters and even prevents unauthorized use ofelectronic media content because it incentivizes the auditors to reportunauthorized use of electronic media content with award and there is nolimitation on the number of auditors. The mobile application disclosedby the present invention also makes the auditing easy and expedientbecause almost every person has a smart phone that can take pictures andvideos. In addition, when the individual or business sees detailedevidence (i.e., photo, video, etc.) of their unauthorized use ofelectronic media content, it will prompt them to pay the requiredlicensing fees or to resolve the case quickly and prior to litigation toenforce the rights that were violated.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates toexemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:establishing an electronic relationship between at least one networkconnected computer and at least one electronic device; receiving fromthe at least one electronic device evidence of use of media content at alocation where the at least one electronic device is located, whereinthe evidence comprises of the geographical location of the at least oneelectronic device, and wherein the at least one electronic device'slocation changes periodically; hashing, encrypting, or processing atleast a portion of the evidence of use of media content as the mediacontent is actively playing to obtain a unique identifier, wherein theunique identifier is embedded into or added to each media content fileand is updated periodically; obtaining information regarding individualsor businesses authorized to use, access, or view the media content withthe unique identifier near the geographical location obtained asevidence; and sending the information to the at least one electronicdevice providing an incentive, payment, or award to the one or moreauditors for correctly identifying the unauthorized use of mediacontent, wherein the information includes at least an authorized userslist that the auditors can use to help determine authorized use of thecontent.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: providing information regarding the individuals orbusinesses authorized to use, access, or view the media content with theobtained digital unique identifier near the electronic device'slocation.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theelectronic device's location is determined via the use of a globalpositioning system, cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi triangulation, orinternet protocol address.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the evidence is an audio recording, video recording, orpicture of the media content.
 5. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein an unauthorized users list is downloaded into a mobileapplication or software from a network connected computer that theauditors can use to help determine unauthorized use of the content. 6.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the uniqueidentifier embedded in or added to the media content is unique to themedia content, and wherein the unique identifier comprises of a digitalsignature, digital fingerprint, watermark, pixilation, banner, and anyother identifying indicia.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim1, further comprising: using a processor and memory of at least onenetwork connected computer to determine information regarding whetherthe geographical location is an authorized location to use, access,view, or broadcast the media content with the unique identifier .
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier isunknown to individuals viewing the media content .
 9. Acomputer-implemented method comprising: using a processor and memory ofat least one network connected computer and the processor and memory ofat least one electronic device to establish an electronic relationshipbetween the at least one network connected computer and the at least oneelectronic device; using a processor and memory of the at least onenetwork connected computer to receive from the at least one electronicdevice evidence of use of media content at a location at the at leastone network connected computer, wherein the evidence comprises of ageographical location that is determined via the use of a globalpositioning system, cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi triangulation, orinternet protocol address and an audio recording, video recording, orpicture of the media content; using a processor and memory of the atleast one network connected computer to hash, encrypt, or process atleast a portion of the evidence of use of media content as the mediacontent is actively playing to obtain a unique identifier; hashing,encrypting, or processing at least a portion of the evidence of use ofmedia content as the media content is actively playing to obtain aunique identifier, wherein the unique identifier is embedded into oradded to each media content file and is updated periodically; using aprocessor and memory of the at least one network connected computer toobtain information regarding individuals or businesses authorized touse, access, or view the media content with the obtained uniqueidentifier near the geographical location obtained as evidence;providing information regarding the individuals or businesses authorizedto use, access, or view the media content with the obtained uniqueidentifier near the geographical location; and providing an incentive,payment, or award to the one or more auditors for correctly identifyingthe unauthorized use of media content, wherein the information includesat least an authorized users that the auditors can use to help determineauthorized use of the content, wherein the unique identifier is uniqueto and is embedded into each media content file and updatesperiodically; and wherein the electronic device's location changesperiodically.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, whereinthe unique identifier embedded in or added to the media content isunique to the media content, and wherein the unique identifier comprisesof a digital signature, digital fingerprint, watermark, pixilation,banner, and any other identifying indicia.
 11. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 9, further comprising: using a processor and memory ofat least one network connected computer to determine informationregarding whether the geographical location is an authorized location touse, access, view, or broadcast the media content with the uniqueidentifier.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein theunique identifier is unknown to individuals viewing the media content.13. A computer-implemented method comprising: using a processor andmemory of at least one network connected computer and the processor andmemory of at least one electronic device to establish an electronicrelationship between the at least one network connected computer and theat least one electronic device; using a processor and memory of the atleast one network connected computer to receive from the at least oneelectronic device evidence of use of media content at a location at theat least one network connected computer, wherein the evidence comprisesof a geographical location, an audio recording, video recording, orpicture of the media content; using a processor and memory to hash,encrypt, or process at least a portion of the evidence of use of mediacontent as the media content is actively playing to obtain a uniqueidentifier, wherein the unique identifier is embedded into or added toeach media content file and is updated periodically; using a processorand memory of the at least one network connected computer to hash,encrypt, or process at least a portion of the evidence of use of mediacontent as the media content is actively playing to obtain a uniqueidentifier; and using a processor and memory of the at least one networkconnected computer to obtain information that includes at least anauthorized users list that the auditors can use to help determineauthorized use of the content, wherein the unique identifier is embeddedinto or added to each media content file, is updated periodically, andis unknown to individuals viewing the media content; and wherein theelectronic device's location changes periodically.
 14. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising sending anotification to the one or more auditors of a broadcasted media event ina particular area, the one or more auditors determining if thebroadcasted media event is being shown by one of an unauthorized userand an authorized user.
 15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14,wherein the notification comprises one of a mobile text message, anemail, and a voice mail.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim13, further comprising: sending one or more messages to the unauthorizedusers of the broadcasted media content; and requesting the unauthorizedusers to pay a penalty for an unauthorized use of the broadcasted mediacontent.
 17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, furthercomprising: identifying an area to assign the one or more auditors; anddetermining a number of auditors that have been assigned in theidentified area.